LICENSED SUCCESSES THAT MADE A MARK ON THE UNIVERSES THEY ARE ATTACHED TO

BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM/CITY/KNIGHT

The Batman: Arkham series created a distinctly gritty version of the character and his rogue’s gallery, to the point that new media was able to be licensed from Rocksteady’s twist on the franchise.

MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF WAR

Taking liberties with the Lord of the Rings canon brought change to a familiar universe, for better (playable black badass Baranor) and worse (sexy Shelob, about which the Editor of this magazine some SOME OPINIONS).

ALIEN: ISOLATION

Treated like a valid addition to the Alien mythology and disconnected from the schedule of any other media, Alien: Isolation injects a gorgeous, sprawling, and terrifying interactive experience into the margins of the Aliens universe.

THE DARKNESS

An adaptation of comics published by Top Cow, games about The Darkness ditch much of the wider supernatural machinations of its world in favor of grounded, hyper-violent, surprisingly smart tales of emotion and madness.